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“ I am also a little worried that we are a way that is a little less frenetic than the in-and-out of buying in a losing touch with young consumers who perfumery. If this works then we would be happy to share it with our retailers. are not buying or who are buying in other JM: The industry needs to reinvent itself. People are not consuming channels. For me, the big question is how more, so the industry is losing a little bit of its substance and it needs are we going to reach the millennials? to go back to original fragrances and stop this strategy of small launch after small launch and return to major launches with added value for the consumer. The consumer is lost today by all the activity on the market, and ” that is everyone’s responsibility. This is something that we are looking Coty president of global markets Jean Mortier at internally at Coty—to have fewer, but more important launches and fewer fankers and limited editions. The diffculty is that the day you decide to no longer participate in that, there is a risk, as you cut yourself off from part of the market, but I think that in the long term it will pay off. We need to go back to basics. they are less effective—they have a shorter life span and they don’t What we’re seeing today is that the consumer has lost interest in the produce the volume that the fragrances that launched 10 or 15 years category. I’m also a little worried that we are losing touch with young ago would have. There was a time when a new fragrance was so rare consumers who are not buying or who are buying in other channels, that people would look forward to it, but now there is a launch every which are not taken into account by the panels. For me, the big week, which means the consumer is bored. We are spending a ton question is how are we going to reach the millennials? What channel of money to launch 1,600 fragrances a year—I would say do 400 are they buying in, as it is clear that they have codes and behavior fragrances and do them right. that are completely different to earlier generations? How can we do Usually for a new launch, retailers put you up in visual, which means relevant ads for them, how can we engage them in a different way? that the classics or even the top-10 fragrances are not getting any Communication for them will clearly be digital, and brands’ budgets time on the stage—all the time is going to the launch of the week, so in digital have increased a lot. But after that, where are they buying? we are not even supporting the real winners of the industry. Today we don’t have enough information about where they shop and But on the other hand, the trend towards niche and high-end about their behavior in store. How can we attract young consumers collections seems to show a comeback and appreciation for the art of into stores today? [If they are buying online] they will also need to test fragrance development, and this is getting the consumer interested the juice at least once, so how can we get them to know the juice? again. Not every shopper will be able to afford a $300 fragrance, but EH: First of all, the news overall is quite good, with the beginning of the fact that what is trending is real quality product is positive and the year showing that markets are fat to slightly positive. There have could probably force the industry to launch less and make each one been worries over monetary effects, the Russian clientele and the a little bit better than they have done in the past decade. If you look Chinese, but overall the market is not too bad and we have a frst half at the top-10 fragrances, they are usually fragrances of some age, that is rather good. like Chanel. But the reason that it is so hard to break into the top 10 One of the major trends is that the markets where online sales are is that the companies are not allowing enough money to go into the strong are doing better than the markets, where online business is quality of fragrance so they can’t compete with a fragrance that is in weaker. Now, for certain retailers, especially in the US, online has the top 10. become a high percentage of their business. Online responds to what It is very expensive to launch and to build a new product and none of young consumers are looking for. What needs to be developed is click us can afford mediocre performances. We need to do less and make & collect and using online to send people into stores. And when you fragrances more exciting and more sustainable. Back in the 80s, there send them to the stores, you need to make sure that there is a service were three years between successful fragrances, now it is six months. and a quality shopping experience. Retailers who use digital well and The industry needs to look back at when it was successful and look at those that use online to send consumers to the stores will win. In what made it successful, and it was quality and having the patience other sectors this is being done better than in perfumeries, but this is a to plan year two with some sort of sustainable effort—to create some priority for everyone. excitement, but not necessarily launch a new product. It is more diffcult to sell new fragrances online, as consumers cannot smell the fragrance. This means the scent seal in a magazine for example, is more important. We have increased our investment What could retailers improve to boost the market? in scented advertising a lot. Online sales will be stronger if a launch is LB: The retailer has a role to play, just as the brands do and we accompanied by a program of scented advertising. cannot say it is only the fault of the retailers that the market is not DL: Each year there is a proliferation of launches and each year doing better. Although, they do ask for more newness and n n n November-December 2015 - N°24 - BW Confidential 43